Progress claims and Security of Payment, in plain English
Every state and territory in Australia has a Security of Payment Act. They exist for one reason: subcontractors were going broke waiting to be paid on work they had already done. The laws give you a fast route to the money, but only if you use their machinery properly, and the deadlines are short and unforgiving in both directions.
What a progress claim actually is
On a job of any size you get paid in stages rather than at the end. A progress claim is your invoice for the stage you have completed. Rough-in done, first fix complete, 60% of the contract value delivered. That part is just commercial practice and it works however you and the builder agreed it would.
A payment claim is the same thing dressed for the legislation. It is a progress claim that has been made under the Security of Payment Act, which switches on a statutory timetable and a right to have the dispute decided quickly by an adjudicator rather than slowly by a court.
The bit that decides who gets paid
Here is the mechanism, and it is the whole reason these laws have teeth.
When you serve a valid payment claim, the other party has a limited window to serve a payment schedule. A written reply saying how much they propose to pay and, if it is less than you claimed, precisely why. That window is set by the Act in your state and it is measured in business days.
If they do not reply in time, they generally become liable for the full claimed amount. Not "liable to argue about it later". Liable for it, with the Act on your side. That is the leverage. It also cuts the other way: if you are the one receiving claims from your own subbies, a payment schedule you forgot to send is a bill you have just agreed to pay in full.
The deadlines are not the same everywhere. Each state and territory runs its own Act, with its own reply windows, its own rules about reference dates, and its own wording requirements. New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria differ from each other in ways that matter. Do not carry an assumption across a border, and do not rely on a template written for another state.
What belongs on a payment claim
The detail varies by jurisdiction, but the common core is:
- Who it is from and who it is to, with the correct legal entity names, not the trading name of a company that does not hold the contract.
- The construction work it covers, described well enough that the other side can assess it. The claim stands or falls on this: a lump-sum line with no breakdown invites a payment schedule that pays a fraction of it.
- The amount claimed, and how you got there. The contract value, the percentage complete, what was previously claimed, and what is left.
- Any variations and approved extras, separated out rather than buried in the main figure.
- Retention, if it is being held, shown so the reader can see it.
- The statutory wording your state requires, where it requires it. Some jurisdictions expect the claim to state that it is made under the Act; others have changed that requirement over time. This is the single most common own goal, and it is worth confirming for your state rather than trusting a template.
Practical habits that avoid adjudication entirely
- Claim on the same day every month. Reference dates are how these Acts decide whether a claim is valid at all. A predictable claim date keeps you inside them and stops the argument before it starts.
- Never let a variation ride on a handshake. Priced, approved in writing, then claimed. Verbal extras are where the money disappears, because when the relationship sours nobody remembers the conversation the same way.
- Keep the site records that prove the work. Diaries, photos, delivery dockets, hours. An adjudicator decides on documents, not on who sounds more reasonable.
- Diarise the reply deadline the day you serve. If you are the head contractor, the payment schedule deadline for claims you receive is the one to fear.
If a claim is not paid
Broadly, and again subject to your state: if they served no payment schedule and did not pay, you can usually pursue the full amount as a debt. If they served a schedule for less than you claimed, or scheduled an amount and then did not pay it, adjudication is the fast path. An independent adjudicator decides, usually in weeks rather than the year a court would take. Adjudication determinations are enforceable, but the timeframes for applying are short. Miss the window and the fast route closes, leaving you with the slow and expensive one.
Jobdeck keeps the paperwork side of this straight. Progress claims are raised as their own invoices against the stages you set, with what was previously claimed and what is left calculated for you, variations tracked separately and approved in writing by the customer, and retention held and released as its own record. It keeps a SOPA register for claims made under the Act in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and the site diaries and photos that back a claim up are already attached to the job.
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